10 June 2013

A trade was just consummated at the PBA office a couple of hours ago that will bring Jared Dillinger from Talk 'N Text and Don Allado from Barako Bull Energy Cola to Meralco Bolts in exchange for Ronjay Buenafe and Gilbert Bulawan.

Talk 'N Text receive in turn will get the services of the much-improved Sean Anthony.

In a statement, PBA Commissioner Chito Salud described the moves as "good trades for all the teams. [Each squad] acquired new plays to fill in their needs and to complement their present strengths."

The first part of the trade involved Talk 'N Text shipping Dillinger to Barako Bull Energy Cola for Anthony. Barako then dealt Dillinger and Don Allado to the Bolts. In return, Barako got three-point artist Buenafe and seldom-used forward Bulawan.

Even if Dillinger has been out of action since the semifinals of the Commissioner's Cup after he figured in a road mishap, experts expect him to flourish further by bringing his gutsy plays to the free-wheeling style of the Bolts. He averaged 4.64 points, 2.79 rebounds, and 1.57 assists per game in that conference.

Meanwhile, Anthony was traded by GlobalPort to San Mig Coffee on draft day. He was traded minutes later to Barako Bull for Aldrech Ramos and Dave Marcelo. With Talk ‘N Text, Anthony could fill the void left by the departure of Kelly Williams. Anthony normed 5.44 points, 4.22 rebounds, and 1.22 steals in the last conference, but he played only in nine games due to an injured foot.

Barako Bull on the other hand will get a streaky shooter in Buenafe. After they traded Josh Urbiztondo for Ginebra’s Keith Jensen, it was unclear where the Energy Cola would get their points. It was also unclear how Jensen will get playing minutes behind Anthony. With this trade, Barako Bull got better on offense with Buenafe, who averaged 7.53 points in the Commissioner’s Cup.

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PBA Advisory

2017 Commissioner's Cup Format

The tournament allows teams to hire foreign players or imports with a height limit of 6-foot-10.

The top 2 teams will earn twice-to-beat edges over Nos. 7 and 8 while the No. 3 against No. 6 and No. 4 versus No. 5 pairing will be a best-of-three affair in the quarterfinals.

The semifinal stage will have a pair of best-of-five matches and the finals will be a race-to-four affair.

Gilas Pilipinas

Manila will host one of the three tournaments in the 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament. The Philippine national men’s basketball team will try to pull off massive upsets against France, New Zealand, Canada, Turkey and Senegal in the competition slated on July 5 to July 10 at Mall of Asia Arena.

A total of 18 teams will participate in the three-nation event whose champions will book tickets to the 2016 Rio Olympics.